Virus Hundreds volunteer to take part in new vaccine trial
CLINICAL trials for a promising new coronavirus vaccine candidate will involve more than 300 volunteers from the Bristol area.
Tens of thousands of people worldwide are being recruited to test the Covid-19 vaccine candidate from Janssen, which is a subsidiary of US company Johnson & Johnson.
North Bristol NHS Trust and University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust shared a joint appeal last year, to encourage participation at a local level for the Ensemble 2 trial.
Rachel Williams, regional vaccine trials manager at North Bristol, has now announced that 333 randomised participants have been recruited across the West of England to take part.
She tweeted the update and expressed a “massive thank you to everyone who made this possible”.
Professor Adam Finn, who is a leading expert coordinating Bristol’s
coronavirus research, also shared the figure.
He tweeted: “After Oxford-AstraZeneca phase 1 and 2/3, Valneva phase 1 this is the 4th Covid-19 vaccine trial recruited to target in Bristol and West of England.
“A real credit to the trial teams and to many local residents who have volunteered to participate. Thanks to you all.”
The study, co-funded by the UK government’s Vaccine Taskforce, will recruit up to 30,000 participants around the world.
They will be involved for about two years and researchers will collect blood samples, saliva samples and nasal swabs to test the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine candidate.
As reported last month, Casualty star Jason Durr is among those locally who volunteered for the new trial, after his mum died of Covid-19.
Ensemble 2 trials are running in parallel with Johnson & Johnson’s initial Ensemble trial.
They have different names because the first trial investigates a single-dose regimen, while Ensemble 2 looks at a two-dose regimen.
On Friday, the company shared a report into the clinical trial results for the single-dose regimen.
Analysis suggested that the vaccine candidate was 66 per cent effective overall in preventing moderate to severe Covid-19, 28 days after vaccination.
Kevin Marsh, professor of tropical medicine at the University of Oxford, said the results from the Janssen jab trials were “extremely encouraging”.
The UK has ordered 30 million doses of the vaccine, with the option of 22 million more, with deliveries expected in the second half of this year if the jab is approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Bristol is also one of four locations currently trialling the Valneva vaccine candidate, which was developed in West Lothian in Scotland.
Anyone keen to take part in coronavirus vaccine studies in their area can make their interest known via the dedicated NHS Covid-19 Vaccines Research Registry.